


Who Needs Romance

by castiel_lightwood



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Artist Dean, Best Friends, Friendship, New Kid Castiel, No Romance, Social Anxiety, ace!cas, aro!Dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2015-10-30
Packaged: 2018-04-28 22:56:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5108669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castiel_lightwood/pseuds/castiel_lightwood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a supernatural high school au about artist aro!dean and the new kid castiel because friendship is better than romance :) <br/>(a birthday present for my friend lydia who loves aro!dean)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Needs Romance

Dean’s perfectly content with what he’s got - a group of great friends, his adorable yet sometimes infuriating younger brother, a safe space in the art department away from the pain of his early childhood. His adopted father Bobby understands when Dean needs space away from their home and as long as he calls to say where he is and as long as he isn’t in danger Bobby doesn’t mind.

Sometimes his childhood catches up on him and he has to immerse himself in art. Its not the only time he draws or paints, but it makes him feel less alone, less vulnerable. He can lose himself in the brush strokes and swirling colours and somehow he knows he’s going to be okay.

Its the start of term after the Christmas holidays and everyone in Dean’s class is chattering excitedly about what they got for Christmas and the embarrassing things their relatives did. Dean’s already said hello to his friends and is now sitting in the corner sketching in the new sketchbook Bobby bought him for Christmas. He enjoys school and he loves his friends but sometimes being in a loud social situation makes him confused and disorientated. Charlie comes over to check he’s okay and he smiles and waves away her concern. They chat quietly about his sketches so by the time the teacher comes in he’s much calmer. He’s quickly distracted by the boy who follows her in, bundled up in a blue sweater and grey scarf. His eyes stay on the ground, a look Dean recognises in himself as someone who doesn’t want to be in the centre of attention.

Charlie nudges him and murmurs, “poor guy, who’d want to join school half way through the year?”

Dean’s empathy for the boy grows even more, especially when he blushes bright red when the teacher tries to pronounce his name.

“Cast-eel will be joining us this term -” she begins, squinting at the name on her register.

The boy stutters out “its Cast-i-el, miss -” before looking down embarrassed.

She stares at him for a moment before nodding. “Alright. Castiel. Anyway, I hope you all make him feel welcome.” She points to the only spare seat in the room, at the end of Dean’s row next to Charlie’s girlfriend Gilda. When he reaches the chair he obviously relaxes and Dean finds himself watching Castiel curiously.

Despite his obvious anxiety, he’s got a surprisingly strong look to his face. Dean imagines that if he was less self conscious he’d have a very confident set to his jawline and cheekbones. His hair is windswept but not messy and Dean thinks it actually looks quite nice, very natural. The embarrassed blush across his cheeks sits in good contrast to the palour of his skin - where has he been living, the Arctic?

Castiel must realise someone’s watching him because he glances up from the table, eyes shifting nervously. Dean doesn’t realise until Castiel is looking straight at him and he feels him own blush growing from being caught staring. Castiel looks away, clearly embarrassed, and Dean feels terrible. The teacher tells them to leave and he tries to get to Castiel to apologise and introduce himself but the windswept boy has already gone. Dean curses himself for being such an idiot. Great way to introduce someone to a school, he thinks angrily at himself.

Dean ends up in art at lunchtime, the noise of the school day too much for him. He’s still annoyed about scaring Castiel away and he finds himself angrily splattering pain on canvas. When he steps away he realises he’s done it in blues and greys - the colours of Castiel.

He presses his head into his hands. He’s so confused. He knows that Castiel thinks he’s got a crush on him but its not like that. Dean doesn’t get romantic feelings, he’s never had them, he doesn’t honestly truly believe they exist, but despite what Charlie thinks he’s definitely not getting them now. Castiel just… intrigues him.

Picking up his sketchbook his begins to properly consider the new boy. He’s embarrassed easily, but he still seems to speak out when something’s wrong. Like the pronounciation of his name. That takes a certain confidence doesn’t it?

Dean starts sketching, conjuring images from that morning. The moment Castiel came through the door. When he sat down relieved. When Dean met his gaze for the first time. When he ran out as quickly as he could.

He doesn’t realise he’s filled a whole page of tiny sketches until he’s broken from his concentration by the opening of the door. He glances up and swallows hard. As if he’d created him from his drawings, there was Castiel. He looks around nervously and then sees Dean. Castiel opens his mouth but nothing comes out. Dean realises that this is the only time to repair what he messed up this morning. He scrambles to his feet, leaving his sketchbook on the desk and hurries over to the anxious new student.

Castiel looks worried for a moment and Dean’s step falters. “Umm, are you okay?” Nice way to start Dean, he thinks, annoyed at himself again.

Castiel blinks and then nods. “The art teacher wanted to see me, Mrs…” he glances down at the piece of paper clutched in his hand.

“Mrs Barnes?” Dean asks, and Castiel nods gratefully. “She goes out every lunctime, but she’ll be here at the end of school if you want to come back then.”

Castiel nods again. “Right. Okay. Umm, I’ll go then -”

“Hey, you don’t have to,” Dean jumps in quickly.

Castiel blinks at him. “But, I don’t want to intrude -”

Dean shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it, if you’re anything like me being round people all the time stresses me out.”

Castiel smiles genuinely for the first time, looking incredibly grateful and relieved. “I thought I was the only one.”

Dean smiles back. “I come to art at lunch to get away from it all, sometimes its too much.” He suddenly realises he hasn’t introduced himself. “Sorry, I mean, I’m an idiot. I’m Dean.” He holds out his hand.

Castiel shakes it, his grip surprisingly firm. “Castiel. Or Cas. I don’t mind.”

“But not Cast-eel?” Dean teases, feeling bad when Castiel flushes bright red. “Sorry -”

“No its fine, don’t worry. Its just everyone always pronounces it wrong and I don’t understand why, its not hard.”

“People are lazy,” Dean says and Castiel nods in agreement. “Speaking of lazy, should we sit down?”

Cas eyes the canvas where Dean was previously. “Sure. Can I borrow some paper or something…?”

Dean goes to fetch some from the cupboard and comes back to find Cas staring at his sketchbook.

Crap.

He’d forgotten what he’d been drawing. It had all been going so well until now, but now Cas wouldn’t understand and would think he was weird and stalkerish and would run away as fast as he could -

He starts babbling as he hurries over. “I’m sorry, I know its weird, I’m not freaky I promise, I just -” Cas looks up at him and he takes a deep breath of air. “You - you interest me.” Crap, well that didn’t sound weird either. “I mean, you’re good to look at -” He’s getting even worse.

He runs his hands through his hair agitatedly. “I’m not trying to be weird, I promise. I just I struggle with wording this stuff, you know?”

Cas frowns and sits down, waiting. At least he’s not running away. “Dean, you drew me? Why?” Its not accusatory, but merely a question.

Dean takes a deep breath. “I see people like art. As in, I see you as the shades of dark brown in your hair or the fabric of your scarf. I do that with everyone. But you… something about you makes me want to draw you. I don’t know why. I -” he breaks off, feeling even more worried and confused. “You’re just good to draw.”

Cas considers him and the silence makes Dean panic. “But I’m not attracted to you. Not like that.” He stares down at the floor. This has gone terribly.

“Dean, please don’t worry.” Cas’s voice soothes him enough for Dean to meet the other boy’s gaze. He’s looking at him warmly. “You mean you view people aesthetically? You experience aesthetic attraction not romantic attraction?”

Dean lets out a deep shuddering breath, amazed that Cas understands. “Yeah. That. Exactly.”

Cas pats the chair next to him and Dean sits gratefully. “I didn’t run away from you this morning, you know,” Cas tells him. “I had to make sure my little sister was okay. She gets really nervous.”

They end up talking about their siblings and sharing stories. It turns out Cas has moved around as much as Dean has, as his father has to move wherever his company sends him. They move onto Christmas and Dean discovers that Cas has a wicked sense of humour that makes him laugh so hard he cries. By the time its time to leave for afternoon lessons, neither of them want to leave. This is the happiest Dean’s been a while.

They pack up the art equipment and Cas passes Dean his sketchbook. Dean has a moment of renewed panic. “Cas, you don’t mind do you?”

“Of course I don’t, don’t be stupid.” Cas smiles. “You’re a great artist. And its a huge compliment that I don’t think I deserve that you think I’m worth drawing.”

Dean blushes with embarrassment. “But you know that I don’t want, I mean -”

“On the first day we’ve met I’d be worried if you gave me a love declaration,” Cas teases. “I understand, Dean. I promise.” He looks down. “I don’t experience, um, sexual attraction. I’ve never understood it.”

Dean steps forward and pulls Cas in for a hug. “Who needs that mushy gross crap when you have friendship, right?”

Cas grins. “Agreed.”

When Cas asks him to go out for dinner a week later Dean doesn’t even panic like he normally does. He knows that its not a date - its friendship. And even though Charlie teases the two of them for basically being a couple, neither of them mind. Even though they’ve only known each other a short while, something has clicked between them, and Dean wonders why anyone wants a romantic relationship when they could have a best friend like Castiel.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! hope you enjoyed it :)


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